March 19, 2010

THE MODERATOR: We'll ask coach to make a brief opening statement and then we'll direct questions to the student-athletes.
COACH MCCAFFERY: I was just very impressed with our team's fight today. We had some opportunities, I think, to run and hide when they made the run in the second half and we made the run back. And I think it's a testament to the character of our team and more specifically the three guys on my right.
It's really been an incredible journey for me as a coach who has been in this awhile to have a group this special. And I hope I have the opportunity to have something anywhere close to that in the future.
THE MODERATOR: We'll take questions for the student-athletes.

Q. Alex, were you healthy in the second half? It looked like you had ice on your foot and were bothered a little bit.
ALEX FRANKLIN: I just had a little nagging injury. It wasn't nothing serious, nothing I couldn't play through.

Q. How did you see the second half? Grant comes out for Purdue and hits the three threes and then instantly you were down. What happened at the start of the second half?
ALEX FRANKLIN: Grant came out and he made a couple big threes. They took the lead and it's easier to shoot when you're up and we didn't get out to him a couple times.
RONALD MOORE: We didn't find Grant in our zone and it really got them going. Defensively we had -- they made some quick shots and got some key turnovers that turned into fast break points for them to get up to an early lead in the second half and when you play a great team like that, it's hard to come back to win the game. And we were right there, just didn't have enough to get over the hump.
EDWIN UBILES: Basically to sum up what they said, I think they came out more aggressive to start the second half and they jumped on us, got a lead, and we didn't expect it to happen like that. There was some mistakes on our part but to our credit we tried to fight and not let them get an even bigger run and we were able to come back and have an opportunity to maybe win the game.

Q. Ronald, it just seemed from my perspective that the way Purdue was defending you guys you were having to shoot more than maybe you usually do in a game. Your thoughts on that.
RONALD MOORE: Well, not really. We were able to drive the ball when we wanted to, but every time we drove Johnson was coming over helping weak side to block shots. So we had a lot of opportunities to knock down 15 foot jump shots which were wide open.
But going into the game you definitely want to drive the ball, try to get into the bonus, get to the free throw line, which we were able to do, but it really was just on the defensive end we just didn't get it done early in the second half.
THE MODERATOR: We'll dismiss the student-athletes and then take questions for coach.

Q. As you saw the start of the second half what was the difference between the two teams?
COACH MCCAFFERY: I thought we made some poor decisions on offense, which is a little out of character for us. They were up on us. We knew they would be. Down at half, that's how they play. But we made some turnovers there we don't normally make. And it clearly improved their momentum. They had no momentum at the end of the half.
So they went out to their credit and created a little bit with some pressure and we got a stop the first possession, we have a run out opportunity, Alexander fumbles the ball. And then later on Ronald Moore turned the ball over in the middle of the floor which I don't think I've seen since I've started watching him in high school. So we had a couple of turnovers that were uncharacteristic, we also missed three or four times.
We had some pretty good looks at it and didn't score. They got some run outs and then they started hitting some shots, primarily Grant, and he's done that, it's not like we weren't expecting him to do that. That's what he does. He's a standstill shooter. They have got penetration and coach uses them well. And once they got it going they went on a nice run on us. I called two timeouts which I don't normally do. I don't like to call timeouts, I like to straighten it out ourselves, but I had to call time out there. The reason I don't like to call them is because I would like to have had them at the end. Because not only did we need them to stop the clock and get into our pressure, I thought we were a little bit tired down the stretch.

Q. Once you guys got down to three, what was the thought behind fouling instead of playing that defensive possession?
COACH MCCAFFERY: He's not a good foul shooter. So what we wanted to do was not be in a position where we felt like we had to make a three. I felt like if he was going to make anything he would make one. Okay. And then we would be able to come down and score. I could use my timeout there, I could get back up into the press. But I think probably to be truthful the main reason was how the previous free throw looked. It didn't look good at all. So we went back at it.
THE MODERATOR: Okay. Thank you, coach. End of FastScripts